Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014 - 12

FOOD & GROCERY ROUNDTABLE

GF: Food safety is the most important consideration for
consumers with the highest expectations attached. There
is a base level consumer expectation that the food they
eat-the food we provide-is safe. That's to be expected
and, in my view, is well executed between our quality
teams and the CFIA. However, there is so much more going on. On the technical side, we were the ﬁrst Canadian
retailer to sign up for the Global Food Safety Initiative,
which helps deﬁne food safety requirements across the
entire supply chain. And, we have a partnership with the
Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety at the University of Guelph, which helps vendors develop professional and technical skills, and to better understand our
food safety and quality expectations.
KL: How important is collaboration with vendors when it
comes to packaging innovation?
JC: We continue to offer a bulk food offering, which helps
us with respect to the amount of packaging that we use,
because there is very little of it. for our packaged product,
we don't have a large team to deal with the packaging
requirements and to innovate concerning the ways we can
reduce, so we're reliant on leading companies within the
industry to work with vendors to continue innovating and
reduce plastics and packaging.
GF: Reducing packaging waste is a collaborative process,
but it's also an opportunity to lead. Three years ago, we initiated a new industry benchmark by moving to a single type
of plastic clamshell that was accepted by more municipal
recycling programs. This effort was supported by the industry and included cooperation from vendors. Now more than
60 per cent of Canadian municipalities accept clamshells
for recycling. We've also committed to reduce our control
brand packaging by 5 per cent and to reduce the amount of
non-recyclable materials in our packaging. Our merchants
are undoubtedly working with suppliers to cut unnecessary
packaging literally as we speak. It's a focus and there's a
joint accountability, but I think more and more it's simply
becoming part of all of our businesses.
LM: Over the last ﬁve years, working closely with our
vendors, we've reduced our greenhouse gas impact by
16 per cent in packaging. We've been able to reformat
some product to reduce up to 30 per cent of the packaging
requirement. We've worked with vendors to design packages that ﬁt the purpose rather than package that was just
showing well on the shelf. We're really looking to get it
downsized where possible. That downsizing has been very
important to us, as well as the use of recycled material in
packaging wherever possible has been important.

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canadian retailer | summer 2014 | www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

MF: We came together as a group to try
to minimize our offerings, especially on
the private label side, to be able to go with
a single design with multiple sizes to allow
us to use less plastic, sending the consumer home with a package that won't open
up or break. We did the same with bagged
produce. We designed a bag that uses
using 40 per cent less plastic. We get insight from our consumers, and build those
relationships with vendors to allow us to
be ﬁrst to market based on their capabilities and how quick they can turn around
as well. This is key. If they know you're a
good partner for them, then they're working that much harder for you.
KL: Today's consumer is the most
discerning and research-driven yet. How
do you ensure for your customers that
the product you offer has been sourced
ethically and responsibly?
GF: Sourcing with integrity starts with all
of our vendor agreements. We are active
with all offshore vendors, ensuring that our
criteria for CSR are met, including respect
for human rights, labour and workplace
safety rights. It's really all about sourcing
with integrity. Our commitment to sell only
sustainably sourced seafood is perhaps the
best example of our latest commitments to
sustainable sourcing. We're also focused on
animal welfare, providing fresh alternatives
and are very committed to buying locally.
Through our Grown Close to Home program-which launched six years ago-we're
better serving customers who see "local"
and "fresh" as interchangeable.
JC: It comes down to having those long
term relationships with your suppliers.
You establish that trust and that culture
to align yourself with partners that have
the same values as you do. If you can
maintain that long term, you get to know
what they're doing. There's a trust factor.
That's what the customer establishes with
you as well. It comes down to establishing
a long term trusting relationship with your
partners that will translate into better
relationships with your customers.

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Canadian Retailer - Summer 2014

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